At home in Westeros
What's the endgame here?
The newest Game of Thrones spinoff has nothing at all to say about the Wall, the Starks, the Martells, the Tullys, the Dothraki, the Iron Islands, or the North. The only dragon we see is a handsomely constructed puppet, made, if I had to guess, of papier mache. Are we really in Westeros, the site of HBO’s multibillion-dollar fantasy IP?
The short answer — we are — is accurate but not the whole tale. Whereas the original series took as its source material thudding tomes of faux-medieval mayhem, HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on a modest novella. Not quite a comedy but certainly no labyrinthine saga, the show is perhaps best described as a Westerosi tone poem, a work of admirable depth that rarely glances beyond the nearest rise. Is it any good? Surprisingly, yes. But don’t expect geopolitical convolutions and intrigues. If Game of Thrones and its prequel, House of the Dragon, were great dynasties crushing all before them, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a mere man-at-arms on a horse.
The show stars newcomer Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall (“Dunk”), a “hedge” knight, so named for his unattachment to any noble house. Recently bereft of his mentor, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), Dunk is wandering the countryside when he encounters a stray 9-year-old at a roadside inn. Is Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), as the boy asks to be called, the simple orphan and hangabout whom he claims to be, or is a more interesting game afoot? No matter. Before we can advise him against it, Dunk takes Egg into his service as squire, and the pair set off for a jousting tournament to make their fortune.
Peter Claffey with Dexter Sol Ansell in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. (Steffan Hill/HBO)
Among the production’s most obvious idiosyncrasies are its episode count and average run time. Coming in at a svelte half-dozen installments, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms parcels out its action in 30-minute portions, a noticeable scaling back from, say, Game of Thrones’s 80-minute series finale. One reason for this leanness is that the program doesn’t even try to maintain the TV drama‘s traditional structure. Those looking for “A,” “B,” and “C” plots will search in vain. Rather, the series lingers patiently on Westerosi manners and mores: a dance-hall frolic or a stage show of balladry and fire. It isn’t until the fifth episode that we get so much as a peek at Dunk’s considerable fighting prowess, some early fisticuffs notwithstanding. Even then, the show is no more …
What's the endgame here?
The newest Game of Thrones spinoff has nothing at all to say about the Wall, the Starks, the Martells, the Tullys, the Dothraki, the Iron Islands, or the North. The only dragon we see is a handsomely constructed puppet, made, if I had to guess, of papier mache. Are we really in Westeros, the site of HBO’s multibillion-dollar fantasy IP?
The short answer — we are — is accurate but not the whole tale. Whereas the original series took as its source material thudding tomes of faux-medieval mayhem, HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on a modest novella. Not quite a comedy but certainly no labyrinthine saga, the show is perhaps best described as a Westerosi tone poem, a work of admirable depth that rarely glances beyond the nearest rise. Is it any good? Surprisingly, yes. But don’t expect geopolitical convolutions and intrigues. If Game of Thrones and its prequel, House of the Dragon, were great dynasties crushing all before them, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a mere man-at-arms on a horse.
The show stars newcomer Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall (“Dunk”), a “hedge” knight, so named for his unattachment to any noble house. Recently bereft of his mentor, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), Dunk is wandering the countryside when he encounters a stray 9-year-old at a roadside inn. Is Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), as the boy asks to be called, the simple orphan and hangabout whom he claims to be, or is a more interesting game afoot? No matter. Before we can advise him against it, Dunk takes Egg into his service as squire, and the pair set off for a jousting tournament to make their fortune.
Peter Claffey with Dexter Sol Ansell in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. (Steffan Hill/HBO)
Among the production’s most obvious idiosyncrasies are its episode count and average run time. Coming in at a svelte half-dozen installments, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms parcels out its action in 30-minute portions, a noticeable scaling back from, say, Game of Thrones’s 80-minute series finale. One reason for this leanness is that the program doesn’t even try to maintain the TV drama‘s traditional structure. Those looking for “A,” “B,” and “C” plots will search in vain. Rather, the series lingers patiently on Westerosi manners and mores: a dance-hall frolic or a stage show of balladry and fire. It isn’t until the fifth episode that we get so much as a peek at Dunk’s considerable fighting prowess, some early fisticuffs notwithstanding. Even then, the show is no more …
At home in Westeros
What's the endgame here?
The newest Game of Thrones spinoff has nothing at all to say about the Wall, the Starks, the Martells, the Tullys, the Dothraki, the Iron Islands, or the North. The only dragon we see is a handsomely constructed puppet, made, if I had to guess, of papier mache. Are we really in Westeros, the site of HBO’s multibillion-dollar fantasy IP?
The short answer — we are — is accurate but not the whole tale. Whereas the original series took as its source material thudding tomes of faux-medieval mayhem, HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on a modest novella. Not quite a comedy but certainly no labyrinthine saga, the show is perhaps best described as a Westerosi tone poem, a work of admirable depth that rarely glances beyond the nearest rise. Is it any good? Surprisingly, yes. But don’t expect geopolitical convolutions and intrigues. If Game of Thrones and its prequel, House of the Dragon, were great dynasties crushing all before them, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a mere man-at-arms on a horse.
The show stars newcomer Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall (“Dunk”), a “hedge” knight, so named for his unattachment to any noble house. Recently bereft of his mentor, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), Dunk is wandering the countryside when he encounters a stray 9-year-old at a roadside inn. Is Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), as the boy asks to be called, the simple orphan and hangabout whom he claims to be, or is a more interesting game afoot? No matter. Before we can advise him against it, Dunk takes Egg into his service as squire, and the pair set off for a jousting tournament to make their fortune.
Peter Claffey with Dexter Sol Ansell in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. (Steffan Hill/HBO)
Among the production’s most obvious idiosyncrasies are its episode count and average run time. Coming in at a svelte half-dozen installments, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms parcels out its action in 30-minute portions, a noticeable scaling back from, say, Game of Thrones’s 80-minute series finale. One reason for this leanness is that the program doesn’t even try to maintain the TV drama‘s traditional structure. Those looking for “A,” “B,” and “C” plots will search in vain. Rather, the series lingers patiently on Westerosi manners and mores: a dance-hall frolic or a stage show of balladry and fire. It isn’t until the fifth episode that we get so much as a peek at Dunk’s considerable fighting prowess, some early fisticuffs notwithstanding. Even then, the show is no more …
0 Comments
0 Shares
41 Views
0 Reviews
